Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso wanted to compete for the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics instead of representing her home country, according to a report.
“I want to represent the United States more,” Alonso allegedly said during a live video on social media before the Olympics, Paraguayan outlet HOY reported.
The outlet claimed Alonso wanted to swim for the US because it’s where she attended college and Team USA Olympic qualifications are much different than Paraguay’s.
Alonso, who was accused of “inappropriate conduct and booted from Olympic Village in Paris, competed for one season at Southern Methodist University as a sophomore. She also attended Virginia Tech University in 2021-2022.
The 20-year-old swimmer had qualified for the women’s 100-meter Butterfly through the universality system, which is designed to increase the diversity of participating nations across sports at the Olympic Games.
During her social media video, Alonso allegedly slammed the Paraguay Olympic Committee’s (COP) treatment of its athletes.
“They threaten me that they are going to publish a statement, that I am going to leave because of universality, if I support my sport it is thanks to my sponsors, they want to humiliate me and say ‘it is not a big deal that you are leaving because of universality’ and like no Paraguayan woman has ever made a mark for the Olympic Games, and to tell me that and on top of that I am one second away is nothing,” said Alonso.
She said she’d much rather represent the US because of the tension she experienced with her Paraguayan Olympic teammates and higher-ups, who don’t “support” or “trust” their athletes.
“It’s not a pleasure to represent Paraguay and if it were up to me, I would go back to college,” she added.
COP President Camilo Perez called out Alonso for wanting to represent a different country because her times wouldn’t be good enough to qualify for the Olympics as a member of Team USA.
“I read that she wants to compete for the United States,” Perez said, according to UNILAD. “There is no universality there. She came here as a Paraguayan. She has to train a lot more to represent USA, her times have to be much better.”
2024 PARIS OLYMPICS
Alonso, who made a name for herself through her social media presence before ever diving into the Olympic pool, failed to advance out of her heat into the semi-finals on July 27.
She shocked the world when she announced her retirement from swimming a day after her race — and weeks after she received a tattoo of the international event’s five rings on her hip.
On Monday, Alonso was reportedly kicked out of the Olympic Village because she was a distraction to the other athletes following “inappropriate” conduct including a trip to Disneyland and skimpy outfits.
“Her presence is creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay,” Larissa Schaerer, head of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee said, according to the Sun.
“We thank her for proceeding as instructed, as it was of her own free will that she did not spend the night in the Athletes’ Village.”
On Tuesday, Alonso pushed back on the reports that she removed from the athletic housing.
“I just wanted to make it clear that I was never removed or expelled from anywhere, stop spreading false information,” Alonso wrote on Instagram, according to the Daily Beast.
“I don’t want to give any statement but I’m not going to let lies affect me either.”
